


Easy Money

by Karvolard



Category: Original Work
Genre: Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Paranoia, Plot, Regret, Sneaking Out, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 05:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15236631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karvolard/pseuds/Karvolard
Summary: The ad needs a girl aged 9-12, blonde hair, blue or green eyes, and in exchange for "cleaning around the house" the girl gets $200. 13 year old Suzy decides to take up the offer, and anxiously waits for them to pick her up. Once she gets in their gorgeous new car, she realizes she's gonna be doing something a lot different than household chores.





	Easy Money

**Author's Note:**

> (This is just something I wrote a few years ago I found lying in a folder, haven't read it since.)

I picked out my cutest outfit, light blue denim overalls. The ad asked for girls 9-12. I’m 13, but I’m sure I pass as younger with being so short. I put my hair in pigtails to make extra sure. I got here exactly ten minutes before the time they said they’d pick me up. couldn’t possibly be late, that would be saying goodbye to the phone I’ve been wanting for months now. I asked them to pick me p a few blocks away from my house. Partly because my mom would kill me if she knew what I was doing, and also because it’s the sketchiest ad ever. If they’re going to kill me I might as well not put the rest of the house in danger. I told my mom that I was going to Debby’s house. She just let me leave, without being the least bit suspicious, and I haven’t even spoken to Debby since she pulled my hair in third grade. It’s ridiculously stupid, but it’s the only thing I could find that I’m (sorta) old enough for. Anyone else who would’ve saw something that said “Need a girl aged 9-12, blonde hair, and blue or green eyes to help around the house. Free clothes and $200.” would’ve immediately thought it to be some sort of creepy internet predator, and I don’t think age and appearance is relevant to how well someone can help around the house. But I (almost) fit all the requirements, and that’s just the amount of money I need. Plus, I could really use some new clothes.  
Cars kept passing and I was wondering which one was going to be my ride. Until one car drove down the road that was out of place from the rest. It was definitely expensive, and absolutely stunning. White, gold, and looked rather small, but enough to fit 4 people. Of all the places in this town to see a car like that, this should be the last. It pulled up right next to me and stopped. There’s no way that I’m the person they’re stopping for.  
The window rolled down to reveal a woman with thick blonde hair and sparkling diamond earrings. She lifted up her sunglasses and stared at me for a moment. I tensed up. This wasn’t what I expected, but I’m still relieved that it’s not some creepy guys in a white van.  
She smiled and asked “are you Suzy?” I nodded and smiled back. She didn’t seem alarmed at my crooked teeth. “Well come on in,” she said, so I did. The inside was a freezer compared to the hot air outside. The seats were black leather and the whole car was incredibly clean. In the passenger seat was a man with short brown hair and expensive sunglasses. He turned around so I smiled, and he smiled back with teeth more crooked than mine. It’s too late to go back now.  
After about 5 minutes of driving in silence I ask “so what exactly are we doing?” It comes out more nervous than I intended, but without looking away from the road the lady says, “Well, right now we’re going to get you properly dressed, of course!” And they stop in front of a small store next to a gun shop. The font is too fancy to be legible. The car stops, but I’m too nervous to get out. I’ve never been anywhere this lovely. Even though it’s small, everything I can see through the window looks like it costs more than anything I’ve ever owned. The man opened the door for me and I looked down and walked out. We walk into the store and a woman greets us with, “Theodore! Elizabeth! Welcome! It’s been awhile.” She has on a black uniform that has the same illegible words that were on the sign.  
“It sure has been Eleanor, we just couldn’t find the right girl. That is until Suzy here contacted us, and I accepted her instantly. She’s perfect isn’t she?” Theodore replies. “Oh,” she squeals and turns to me, “So short, so pretty! Even better than the last girl!” The last girl? Do they do this often? I don’t even know what they’re doing. “Ah yes, that Betsy. She was lovely, but not quite as girlish as this one. She was too tall, and she looked far too old,” Elizabeth says. I guess that means I’m pulling off being twelve after all. “Well let’s get right to the measuring!” She pulls some measuring tape out the pockets of her uniform and starts measuring me up, down, and across with impossible optimism.  
After she finishes she says, “a small of course! I could’ve just measured you by your looks! So what is it you’re looking for, mister and miss Aguillard?”  
“Number eighty-two, the new edition.” Elizabeth says. The lady guides to the far wall and pulls a olive green dress off the wall and hands it to me.  
Theodore points to a door and says, “go on, that’s the dressing room. Change into it and meet us in the car. Be quick! We have to get there before it gets too dark.” I have no idea where “there” is but I head to the dressing room anyways.  
I change quickly and head back to the car. I sit in the back seat and place my overalls beside me. Only Elizabeth is there. “It will only be a few moments, Theo just has to get something. Also,” she reaches over to my head and takes down my ponytails, “there. Perfect.” I fiddle with my thumbs and after about a minute, Theodore walks out of the store. But not the clothes store, the gun store. It wasn’t until now that I regretted answering the ad.  
I start shaking. I ask abruptly, “what’s happening?” But Elizabeth was too distracted by Theodore getting into the car. They’re both smiling and appear to be completely casual about this. I look around for someone in the parking lot to save me. I try to make eye contact with a mom or her two screaming kids, but she’s to occupied with them. It’s hopeless anyways, the windows are too tinted for anyone on the outside to see through.  
The car pulls out, and my chance to leave is gone now. I even tried to open the door anyways, but they’re locked. They chat in the front seat about what they want for dinner, and things they saw on the news. They really do do this all the time. They have a routine and everything. And I’m their next “girl”. Their next victim. And no one will find me, because no one knows that I answered that ad.  
We’re travelling outside of the town now. There’s no cars around here, no one to witness us. They turn onto a dirt road heading into the woods. My poor mother. She’ll never see me again. The last words I said to her were lies. Her daughter is never coming home again. I should’ve appreciated her more. I didn’t need a phone, I would’ve been just fine without it. Now I’m paying my life for it.  
After twenty minutes of driving they stop. We’re in a clear spot in the middle of the woods. They get out of the car but I stay put in fear. Theodore opens the car door for me, grinning wide with the gun in his hand, “We’re here! C’mon out Suzy!” I step out with more caution and fear than I’ve had in my whole lifetime. These are my last moments. I close my eyes tightly and tell my mother in my head that I’m sorry. “Here, take this,” Theodore says. I don’t open my eyes. He puts something in my hands, so I look at it. It’s the gun.  
I look back up and he has a phone in his hand. Elizabeth swings her arm over my shoulders. “What?” I say, confused. I don’t understand. He smiles at the two of us and points his phone camera at us.  
“Smile!” he says, and the flash blinds me. I look back down at the gun I’m holding and realize it’s made of plastic. “What’s happening?” I say, and they finally hear me this time. “ Elizabeth removes her hand from my shoulders and shouts, “hunting!”  
“In style!” Theodore adds.  
“It’s for our website. We say we take girls out to do things society thinks are ‘manly’ to empower them and break gender roles, but also imply that you can still look feminine while doing it” Elizabeth explains. “Which is what it started out as. But that’s hardly a profit. We needed to live, and we quit our jobs to pursue our new dream without thinking. So now we just take pictures. and pretend we do these things, and we take the money that’s meant to go to donations and take it ourselves.”  
Elizabeth takes money out of her pocket and hands it to me. “And we pay our girls a bit of it too.”  
If I wasn’t so relieved that I get to live another day and if I didn’t have an envelope with two hundred dollars in it, I would’ve been disgusted with their wrongful business. So instead I smile wide, and say “thank you so much!”  
We talked and laughed on the way home and they dropped me off at the destination where they first picked me up. I skipped all the way home and stopped when I got to my house. I look in the envelope to just to make sure they actually gave me real money, and I slip it into my mailbox. My mom should check the mail when she gets home from work. She deserves this much more than I deserve a phone.


End file.
